Not Applicable
Not Applicable
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to rapid reading methods and reading pointers, and specifically to underscoring methods for the rapid reading of common text, and to devices which implement the methods of underscoring common text.
2. Description of Prior Art
Other than xe2x80x9cgeneric pointersxe2x80x9d used as a means of teaching students to read faster, or used by ordinary readers to mark and pace their reading, nothing germane to pointers used in the method of the invention for reading purposes appears to have been patented, sold, or suggested in any material that appears in the public domain. xe2x80x9cGeneric pointers,xe2x80x9d that is pointing fingers or objects, such as pens or pencils, are the only known prior art implementation devices that have been commonly used as training or continuous use devices operated in connection with either teaching a student to read faster, or for common use by any reader.
The patent data base reveals that numerous patents have been obtained for xe2x80x9creading devicesxe2x80x9d in the form of complex mechanisms which all either use the generic method of the prior art, which is to directly, transversely scan text lines with a generic pointer or a light beam, or to sweep a generic pointer in a downwardly disposed, vertical arc across a page of reading material while the generic pointer is held approximately parallel to the reading material by a complex mechanism. None of these diverse patents either imply or otherwise suggest the method of the present invention. Moreover, the prior art of generic pointer utilization appears to teach away from utilizing an indirect or removed method of marking and pacing a reader""s position in the reading material, as is done in the method of the present invention.
Those skilled in the art of teaching students faster reading, otherwise know as xe2x80x9crapid reading,xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cspeed reading,xe2x80x9d typically teach a reading method wherein a generic pointer, usually a finger or a generic object, such as a pen or other pointing implementation device, is pointed toward the text lines. The pointer tip is then targeted below the text line to be read, i.e., toward the straight, linear space which extends in-between the text lines to be read. The student reader is then taught to move the pointer tip horizontally, left-to-right, through the linear space below the text line, then move the pointer tip downward one linear space as the pointer tip is returned right-to-left. This cyclical, zigzag process of pointer tip movement through the sequential, downwardly disposed linear spaces continues until the end of the page, and begins anew at the start of the next page. The movement of the pointer tip in this manner typically requires that the non-pointing end of the pointer be grasped with the thumb and fingers as the wrist and arm move back and forth to carry the pointer tip in the described zigzag-shuttling and downward movement. The pointer is typically held so that its tip is continuously nearly, or actually touching the surface of the print matter or virtual display monitor text lines being read. This zigzag-shuttling process of passing a moving pointer tip in an approximately straight, horizontal manner, at an approximately even distance from the surface of the reading material, through the linear spaces below and parallel to the text lines is generally known as xe2x80x9cunderscoring.xe2x80x9d An underscoring pointer tip emphasizes the reader""s linear space positioning below a text line, thus enabling a reader to position his eyes for the reading of the words above the pointer tip within the linear space. Thus the prior art of rapid or speed reading teaches that underscoring, as a method of both keeping place and pacing left-to-right linear reading, should be a process wherein the words and phrases within a text line are emphasized by passing a pointing finger or object beneath a line of text in the manner just described.
Once a student has learned this method of underscoring and has become a faster reader, he or she may often use an inverted method of underscoring wherein the moving pointer tip is targeted toward the linear space above, rather than below, a text line to be read. To differentiate underscoring from this inverted use process, it will be referred to as xe2x80x9coverscoring.xe2x80x9d Overscoring is performed during awkward circumstances of reading, such as when attempting to read a legal brief while it lies flat on a surface immediately in front of the reader. To avoid arm movement next to his body, the reader may choose to move his hand and wrist above the text lines to be read, invert the pointer, and then bend the wrist to aim the pointer tip downward toward the linear spaces above the text lines. The reader then targets the linear space above the text line to be read and initiates pointer tip movements in the same general manner as described for underscoring. That is, the reader initiates a shuttling-zigzag, downwardly moving wrist and arm movement process that carries the pointer tip in an approximately straight, horizontal manner, at an approximately even distance from the surface of the reading material. An overscoring pointer tip emphasizes the reader""s linear space positioning above a text line, thus enabling a reader to position his eyes for the reading of the words below the pointer tip within the linear space. Overscoring is thus the procedural equivalent of underscoring, but is performed from a linear space above a text line rather than below a text line.
The prior art underscoring and overscoring methods are intended to have the reader realize at some level of awareness that his eyes will naturally follow the tip area of the moving pointer while he or she is simultaneously reading the text line. In this way the reader realizes that as the pointer tip is properly controlled at higher rates of shuttling, the reader""s eyes will shuttle faster, and he or she will read faster.
In the prior art method, one problem that many people using these types of underscoring or overscoring methods encounter is that the performance of such pointer motions as described above are both tedious and fatiguing to the wrist or arm, and, if done improperly with the fingers, leads to friction burns with the surface of the reading material. Also, when an object, such as a pen, is used to read text at a high rate, the pointer often touches against the surface of the page and makes distracting noises. And as well, many people feel self-conscious about performing the exaggerated wrist and arm motions that are required by these prior art underscoring or overscoring methods. It thus often happens that despite having learned an effective method of underscoring or overscoring text lines to read faster, many students regress to their previous, slower reading habits.
It is also obvious when randomly observing ordinary readers reading in a library and during other reading circumstances, that many such readers frequently utilize a pointer of some kind, typically a pen or pencil, whether reading general or technical material. These readers seem to nearly continuously utilize such pointers apparently because it is preferable to them. That is, they appear to appreciate having the ability to rapidly scan through numerous lines of text presently irrelevant to them, and then use the pointer repeatedly at temporary stopping points for focused concentration on particular key words or phrases before again moving on to a higher scan rate.
Another problem that student and general readers using a pointer from the prior art typically encounter is that they often must confront reading matter in three basic, but very different reading positions. The first position is when the material is laying on a flat surface. The second position is when the material is angled up to a typical 45xc2x0, as when it is held in the reader""s lap or hands. And the third common position is when the reading material is angled up to a head-on confrontation at 90xc2x0, as when holding a book on edge in front of the face or when confronting a computer display monitor mounted directly in front of the face. Each of these positions poses a unique challenge to the reader using a generic pointing means as a method of underscoring or overscoring lines of text to be read. These challenges are then compounded as the reader varies his line of sight with respect to the flat, angled or perpendicular text before him, e.g., by standing, sitting, or moving to various side or prone positions. In many of these circumstances of reading, it becomes increasingly awkward to attempt to use a generic pointer to underscore text lines.
An improved text line underscoring and overscoring method, and devices used to implement the improved method, having a graspable, longitudinally elongated, control member, which may be grasped between the thumb and fingers at one end, and having an upward-and-downward, movably angleable connection at an opposite control member end, which is further connective with a non-pointing end of an elongated, transverse pointer arm, which pointer arm extends to an opposite pointing end, so that when the thumb and fingers twist the control member in alternating directions, the non-pointing end of the pointer arm will be urged to rotate in alternate directions, irrespective of the upward or downward angle to which it has been set, and the opposite pointing end of the pointer arm will be urged to shuttle left and right at that set angle, so that the opposite pointing end can be utilized by a reader to place in his line of sight with respect to the intervening linear spaces of text lines to be read, and so be enabled to underscore or overscore the text lines to be read.
Accordingly, the primary objects and advantages of the present invention of an improved text line underscoring or overscoring method and its implementation devices, either as an aid to a student""s rapid reading training, or as a continuously used assisting device for the general reader when reading, are: a. to provide an improved method of underscoring and overscoring the text lines of common text to be read, utilizing a vertically movably angleable pointer arm which is forced to move in a horizontal arc; b. to provide operational embodiments of the device which implement the improved method; so that, c. the improved method and implementation devices will then easily control the movement of a pointer arm tip during the improved underscoring or overscoring process, irrespective of the angular positioning of the text lines to be read, and irrespective of the reader""s line of sight, and which will additionally allow for immediate, temporary stoppage of the pointer tip for accentuating specific words and phrases.
The new method of text line underscoring and overscoring is based on the fact that the brain and eyes process a multitude of sensory informational data simultaneously at different priority levels of awareness. If an observer points a finger at a distant object, the observer has a low level of awareness that his finger is pointing, and a higher level of awareness of the distant object to which he or she is pointing. If the distant object moves and the observer rotates his arm and pointing finger to follow it, the same levels of awareness apply. The observer knows at some level that his arm is turning and that a finger is pointing, but again, the higher level focus is on the object beyond the observer""s pointing finger. Thus, irrespective of the angular change in the pointing arm-finger, the observer""s mind xe2x80x9clooks pastxe2x80x9d the foreground objects of the arm and pointing finger and only really focuses on the object beyond the pointing finger.
The prior art teaches that underscoring and overscoring should be done in a direct manner using a pointer which is held slightly angled or parallel to the surface of the text, and as close to the text as possible, with the pointer tip being moved horizontally through the linear spaces of the text to be read. The improved method of the present invention reveals that underscoring is performed in a more efficient and effective indirect way when the reader utilizes an adjustably angleable pointer which is swinging across the linear spaces as a transverse, extended radius, or xe2x80x9carm,xe2x80x9d emanating from a longitudinal axis which is rotating in alternating directions. Since the reader can easily xe2x80x9csee pastxe2x80x9d the moving arc of the swinging pointer tip to focus on the text line extended in the imaginary line being traced beyond the moving radial pointer tip, control over the pointer and its tip is passed to the means by which the pointer is made to swing. Using the new method of the invention, a reader sees past a pointer tip which is being moved in a 90xc2x0 arc through a linear space, and so is enabled to underscore or overscore text lines in a simpler, more effective, and more comfortable manner.
The improved device of the improved method typically has an elongated, rigid, or flexibly rigid, xe2x80x9ccontrol member,xe2x80x9d which is inclusive of, or further provided with a graspable xe2x80x9ccontrol surfacexe2x80x9d which can be grasped between the thumb and fingers. The control member is the controllable instrumentation by which an angled, radial xe2x80x9cpointer armxe2x80x9d is made to swing across the linear spaces of the text lines. This is done by making the non-grasping end of the control member movably angleably connective with the non-pointing end of a pointer, which is then called the xe2x80x9cpointer armxe2x80x9d of the control member. When the thumb and fingers twist the control member longitudinally in alternating directions, the non-pointing end of the transverse pointer arm is urged to rotate, and the opposite pointing end of the pointer arm, that is, the pointer tip, shuttles left and right in a 90xc2x0 arc.
When the reader then aligns the shuttling pointer tip in his line of sight toward the intervening linear spaces of the text lines, the reader""s eyes will naturally follow the pointer tip movement as it swings on the swinging pointer arm being rotated in alternate directions by the twisting of the control member, irrespective of the pointer arm angle on its movably angleable connection with the control member. And again, the method and device operates as described because of the way in which the human optical system operates within the brain. Although the pointer tip traces out a shallow arc as it swings on the pointer arm, the reader""s eyes naturally focus xe2x80x9cpastxe2x80x9d the moving pointer tip and so focus on the words in the text. The shuttling motion of the pointer tip guides the reader""s eye motions in a smooth and continuous, oscillating manner, even as the reader""s mind ignores the moving pointer tip and processes the words in the text lines.
The initial, intuitive objections to the use of a shuttling pointer tip for text line underscoring and overscoring are essentially groundless, these speculations being that such a device will be awkward and counter-productive to the reading process. In fact, the very opposite is true: the device provides for the implementation of a more efficient method for improving or maintaining faster reading skills. Moreover, the initial use of the device often produces startling results. When a reader does not expect that his eyes can read lines in a continuous manner, and then experiences it for the first time using the implementation device of the new method, the typical result is mild surprise.
These improvements to a text line underscoring and overscoring method and implementation devices will have the further advantages of providing: a. a pointer arm that can be effectively adjusted to a temporarily held rest angle position for varying reader needs; b. a movably angled pointer arm that is rotatable in alternate directions about a longitudinal axis; c. a smoothly moving pointing tip that is easily controlled in an accurate, non-fatiguing, comfortable way, and which allows smooth and swift continuous sweeps left-to-right, and quick return sweeps right-to-left; d. a pointer arm tip that is easily and quickly stopped beneath troublesome words or phrases; e. a simple, lightweight, efficient, inexpensive, easily operated and controlled, portable text underscoring or overscoring device that can act in lieu of the more difficult to utilize prior art finger and object pointing methods which require tedious, fatiguing wrist or arm movements for effective operation; f. a pointer arm tip which, when properly operated to read text at a high rate, does not touch the surface of the page and make distracting noises, and as well eliminates the possibility of finger friction against the surface of the text.
The invention additionally comprehends alternate embodiments with control members that combine with writing instruments for convenient note-taking, highlighting, etc., and as well comprehends an added-on gripping means for easy text page turning, and so a more continuous reading rate.
And again, it is obvious that many ordinary readers are frequent users of generic pointing means, apparently because it is preferable to them. That is, they appear to appreciate having the ability to rapidly scan through numerous lines of text presently irrelevant to them, and then use the pointer repeatedly as a temporary stopping point for focused concentration on particular key words or phrases before again moving on to a higher scan rate. To such readers, having an inexpensive, portable, durable, reliable, accurate and efficient pointer device operating in terms of the new method which the present invention provides would be extremely useful, and he or she would gain from the numerous other indicated advantages of using the new method and new device on a routine basis. The new method and device would thus have an overall appeal, and be universally useful both to students of rapid reading, and to all readers who frequently use generic pointers to read. The present invention also comprehends numerous alternate embodiments, all of which have the object of providing a simple, lightweight, efficient, inexpensive, durable, accurate, non-fatiguing, comfortable, easily grasped, operated and controlled, portable, text line underscoring or overscoring device.
For economy and clarity in the specification below, the reference term xe2x80x9creader,xe2x80x9d will be utilized to indicate a person who reads text lines and who is a user of the method or an implementation device of the method of the present invention. Also for economy and clarity, only the reference pronouns xe2x80x9che,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9chis,xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9chim,xe2x80x9d will be used in the specification below, but it should be understood that the reference term xe2x80x9creader,xe2x80x9d and the reference pronouns cited are intended to refer to both genders. Also, to avoid confusion in the specification below, the term xe2x80x9coverscoringxe2x80x9d will be used throughout the specification to indicate underscoring which is being done from a linear space above a text line to be read, with the understanding that underscoring and overscoring are the same process being conducted from different positional contexts. And also, for purposes of clarity in the specification to follow, each new addition of a dashed, arrowpointed, directional line will be introduced as either a Single Arrowpoint Line, or SAL, or as a Double Arrowpoint Line, or DAL. Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing descriptions thereof.